Shane Richmond is Head of Technology (Editorial) for Telegraph Media Group. He first joined the Telegraph in 1998 and has been Online News Editor and Communities Editor. He writes about all kinds of technology but especially Apple, iOS, ebooks and ereaders, and digital media.

Android developer event criticised

The stereotypical distinction between Google and Apple generally – is that both make products that are good from a technical point of view but that Google's will be rough around the edges, with little focus on design, while Apple's will be more restrictive but with obsessive attention to detail. That stereotype has carried over into the smartphone operating system space, where Google's Android is competing with Apple's iOS.

Last night, Google held an Android developer evening at TechHub in London. [Update: Google have been in touch to say that the event was hosted by M8 Capital and they just spoke at it.]

A developer I know and trust, who has asked not to be named, went along. His background is in iPhone development but he is keen to branch out onto Android. He told me:

"As an iPhone developer, there are many frustrations, but the overall experience is one of quality from end to end. The development tools are good, the framework is superb, the devices are stunningly good, and the developer events are outstandingly well organised and presented.

"My perception of Android, and Google more generally, is of high nerdery, but of sloppy quality control and unfinished, poorly thought through products. I'm convinced that Android is already a major threat to iOS, but developing for Android feels like a major step backwards in terms of enjoyment, convenience and quality.

"If the event last night is anything to go by, my assumptions of Google's essential sloppiness are spot on. OK, it was free, but it's impossible to conceive of Apple doing anything even remotely this amateurish."

He says the evening began chaotically, with attendees struggling to find their names on the lists of entries, and that the room was a mess. Worse, the pizza – integral to Google events – was cold. However, the real problem was with the presentations:

"Eventually, Reto Meier, a Google Android evangelist, stood up to talk. He was introduced by a colleague who didn't know how to pronounce Meier's name. Being a Googler, Meier was duty-bound to use their web-based version of PowerPoint, the imaginatively named Google Presentations. Unfortunately, he hadn't bothered to edit a much larger presentation down, so we were rushed through a slides that he didn't want to show us. How much time would it have taken him to copy the slides he did want to show into a new presentation?

"He was presenting off his laptop, but hadn't attached a power supply, so the screen saver kept kicking in, something that doesn't happen if you use Apple's Keynote or Microsoft's PowerPoint. So another Googler kept having to wake it up again. Somehow, the browser was moved so that it was behind the dock, so some of the slide was obscured. Most of his text was grey on white and almost entirely illegible. Meier's message? That design is really important.

"There was a highly entertaining moment when Meier said that he wanted to find out 'what kind of phones people have'. He asked for a show of hands from Android users, and a good number went up. And that was that. There were loads of people tweeting away on iPhones, but they didn't get to put their hands up.

"The first mention of the iPhone came from Mark Rock, CEO of AudioBoo, who said that Android's development tools and App Market are poor in comparison with Apple's. There was more of the same from Gilles Barbier, CEO of Tellmewhere.com, who was also scathing about App Market, and mentioned the device fragmentation problem that plagues the Android developer. There were some acutely embarrassed Googlers by that point, even if Barbier gave them a face saving formula by pronouncing Android the 'likely winner in the mobile OS war'.

"I'm inclined to agree with Barbier about Android, even if I think it has more to do with the way Apple seeks to control its platform and hardware than any intrinsic superiority in Android. But it's astonishing to me that a company as large and respected as Google could put on such an amateur show. Apple's iPhone Developer Roadshow was a slick, professional, informative and controlled programme, and also free. And I'll bet that Apple pizzas get delivered on time.

"Ultimately, last night's event failed to communicate any of the things it was set up to say. I know nothing more than I did before about why I should consider developing for Android, and my impressions about Google's slapdashery have been confirmed again. I'll be sticking with iOS for the foreseeable future."

I asked Mark Rock about his presentation and he told me: "As iPhone developers we're used to a tightly integrated set of development tools. These don't yet exist for Android. Conceptually, the platforms are also very different. Building an app for iPhone is based on the view that the app takes over the device – your iPhone becomes the app. On Android, your app is really a service which, if built correctly, means other apps can access those services. The app essentially becomes a UI for the services. One of the reasons our Android app is so poor (so poor we've pulled it from the marketplace) is because we didn't understand that."

One source that I spoke to, who was involved in organising the event says it was meant to be "more of a laid-back networking event" than a slick showcase. He also said that the developer was being unfair on Meier's presentation, arguing that feedback on the event had been good and Meier had got his message across.

However, another source, who preferred not to be named, says the developer's email is "pretty accurate".

One event, poorly organised or not, hardly throws Google Android into doubt but I thought this email was worth publishing because it does say something about the perception of the two operating systems. If any developers would like to offer their views, feel free to do so below.

Update: Google points out that this the view of quoted above was just one from an audience of 100 or so, most of whom enjoyed the event. They also say that Google deliberately doesn't seek to replicate Apple's slickness and that Android developers tend to prefer their more laid-back approach. I accept both those points – and think I included them in the post above, for that matter – but I do think this highlights a difference in approach between the two companies that is interesting and worth discussion.